Carnage at Your Fingertips

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Do you like your combats bloody? When you score a critical hit or your enemy fumbles, do you want viscera to spray across the screen in you mind? Do you like the sound of your vanquished foe’s body slam against the walls of that cliff you threw him down? Then you probably already have the GameMastery Critical Hit Deck and Critical Fumble Deck. Paizo now offers them in digital form, as the iCrit and iFumble apps and they are available for both iPhone and Android.

The iPhone versions of these apps have been up for a while. Many of you have already downloaded them and we’re glad you like it. We hope the Android users will be just as pleased with the new versions.

This is the beginning. We are moving forward with more digital tools. We want to make tools that are useful and fun. We want to make tools that you will use and love because they aid the game you love to play.

We have some ideas. We have some secret plans. But you folks have an opinion on everything, and as a group, you folks buy nearly everything. What do you want to see in future phone and tablet tools for Pathfinder?

Random Magic item database. Plug in a few restrictions (level, effect type, etc), and it generates a list of possible items to throw into a chest.

An in-game character tracker. Something to show spells for the day, spells used, current status effects, wound levels... Something to prevent having to mark all over a character sheet so I don't have to re-write them as often!

Treasure generator, please-and-thank-you. Define by available Pathfinder RPG book too, so I can limit it to just Core Rulebook, APG, etc.
Random encounter generator that I can define by APL, climate, and terrain.
Spellbook: not just for wizards. Click and select multiple presets for prepared spell users. (Include a spellbook generator for treasure hordes too.)
Initiative Tracker.

One thing I think you shouldn't do is a full blown character generator/manager - the likes of hero lab are very well developed and likely to be moving to tablets and the like soon. The arrangement you have with Wolf Lair that allows them to update the OGL stuff along with release is the best balance between utility and effort diverted from actually creating books for us IMO

One thing I think you shouldn't do is a full blown character generator/manager - the likes of hero lab are very well developed and likely to be moving to tablets and the like soon. The arrangement you have with Wolf Lair that allows them to update the OGL stuff along with release is the best balance between utility and effort diverted from actually creating books for us IMO

I'd have to disagree. I would love to have something like that from an official source instead of a third party. And really, at this point, there aren't any more books that they HAVE to get out right away, we have all the core material we need.

A Spellbook app that also keeps track of the number of "pages" used so you can have different spellbooks organized under one system.

There are a couple spell book apps, heck I wrote one (it isn't on the app store any more,) but other then as a reference they are all frustrating.

Missing features like:
Having character centeric data taking in to account caster level and caster stat (everything else is meta, all though spell focus... it cascades)
Once your character centric, character centric spell selection so you can create a reference spell list of
1) what is known/spell book/favourite for spontaneous/arcane memorized/divine caster respectively.
2) What is memorized
3) Domains (and subdomains) for domain havers being integrated and recognized as domains.
4) Mystery/Curse/Bloodline bonus spells

One thing I think you shouldn't do is a full blown character generator/manager - the likes of hero lab are very well developed and likely to be moving to tablets and the like soon. The arrangement you have with Wolf Lair that allows them to update the OGL stuff along with release is the best balance between utility and effort diverted from actually creating books for us IMO

I'd have to disagree. I would love to have something like that from an official source instead of a third party. And really, at this point, there aren't any more books that they HAVE to get out right away, we have all the core material we need.

I too would prefer this from Paizo. Particulalry if there were some way to get all the new material with my subscriptions, since I have most of the books on download already.

I'm less on board with the second paragraph. We had everything we "needed" with the core rulebook. I always want more.

Really about the only things you could get me to buy as apps are something to keep track of spells and a character generator (with some means of printing). Although the summoning app would be tempting if done very well.

One of our players has the iPod version of it. Its cool, but since we also have both decks, we usually use those instead, since its more gratifying to draw cards than tap a screen.

Back a while ago, Erik Mona mentioned a program that was in development during a speech. It sounded very cool, did it get scrapped? Is it still being worked on? Have people just forgotten about it?

EDIT: So used to spelling it the right way instead of with a K... ;)

I did say we had some secret or rather secretish projects. That said are constantly evaluating the need for portable digital projects and until we talk about it in definite terms here, it's save to assume that anything mentioned to be in development is just that.

Right now we have one other project that is nearly complete. You will likely see more information on that soon, but we hate to over promise and under deliver, so you'll just have to wait for more information soon.

I'll give you a hint, it is more story and less crunch that our current offerings, but that's all your getting from me right now. ;)

One of those kind of already exists and it's still on the app store. It only takes into account Augment summons, iirc. I haven't used it in a while, so it may have been updated. I believe it's by Giuseppe Loranza (Don't take my spelling as right lol), I got it and it's awesome. I'm going to recommend it to a friend of mine playing a summoner in a different game

One of those kind of already exists and it's still on the app store. It only takes into account Augment summons, iirc. I haven't used it in a while, so it may have been updated. I believe it's by Giuseppe Loranza (Don't take my spelling as right lol), I got it and it's awesome. I'm going to recommend it to a friend of mine playing a summoner in a different game

More seriously, I'd second Lilith's suggestions. And the combat pad suggestion.

But you know what would be really cool? An application that used the phone's camera to overlay area of effect diagrams over a grid. Select the square you're in (or squares!), and then select the area type, and bam. It'll show you instantly who is affected.

One thing I think you shouldn't do is a full blown character generator/manager - the likes of hero lab are very well developed and likely to be moving to tablets and the like soon. The arrangement you have with Wolf Lair that allows them to update the OGL stuff along with release is the best balance between utility and effort diverted from actually creating books for us IMO

I'd have to disagree. I would love to have something like that from an official source instead of a third party. And really, at this point, there aren't any more books that they HAVE to get out right away, we have all the core material we need.

Sure, I hear where you're coming from, but as far as i'm concerned Lone Wolf/Hero Lab IS the official source. It is my understanding that they are Paizo's official licensee for the "official" Pathfinder character builder. To say that we don't already have an "official source" would be like saying that the Reaper and WizKids Pathfinder Minis are not official.

Those guys at Lone Wolf do an AWESOME job of keeping up with both the open game content AND the closed Paizo content. I see no reason to replace their tool.

More seriously, I'd second Lilith's suggestions. And the combat pad suggestion.

But you know what would be really cool? An application that used the phone's camera to overlay area of effect diagrams over a grid. Select the square you're in (or squares!), and then select the area type, and bam. It'll show you instantly who is affected.

If I remember, Giuseppe's was free. I downloaded it a while ago, and those 4WFG apps aren't on the app store, so that just expands the options to more people. Yay options.

Some sort of official character sheet, especially one that let's you tap feats or spells and apply them.

This gets my vote. At the minimum its a character sheet/builder on your iphone/android phone and at the maximum it becomes linked to a tablet/laptop "mother app" where the GM can adjust/track hp, spells, items and all sorts of other goodies in the combat environment.

One thing I think you shouldn't do is a full blown character generator/manager - the likes of hero lab are very well developed and likely to be moving to tablets and the like soon. The arrangement you have with Wolf Lair that allows them to update the OGL stuff along with release is the best balance between utility and effort diverted from actually creating books for us IMO

I'd have to disagree. I would love to have something like that from an official source instead of a third party. And really, at this point, there aren't any more books that they HAVE to get out right away, we have all the core material we need.

Sure, I hear where you're coming from, but as far as i'm concerned Lone Wolf/Hero Lab IS the official source. It is my understanding that they are Paizo's official licensee for the "official" Pathfinder character builder. To say that we don't already have an "official source" would be like saying that the Reaper and WizKids Pathfinder Minis are not official.

Those guys at Lone Wolf do an AWESOME job of keeping up with both the open game content AND the closed Paizo content. I see no reason to replace their tool.

I agree that Lone Wolf does a great job on Hero Labs, however as I recall the license is not exclusive, so Paizo can have more then one "official" source.

I agree with others that an interactive character builder (that does the Math for you, and doesn't just leave empty slots for you to fill it all in) updated with the latest info, on a new book's release would be awesome! I've tried to use lots of the free online ones but they are missing a lot of the options that I use. (archetypes, alternate bloodlines, etc.) I would also like to see a way to limit what you see to things that you are eligible for. As an example, I don't want to read through all 999 feats when I gain a level, since most of them have prerequisites that I don't qualify for. I just want to see the ones that I could take right now.

1. I think the following would be most useful for PFS but would also be useful for Non PFS games as well. I would love to see an online character tracker/builder. What I mean by this is a database of stored characters online, probably at Paizo. As it is, Paizo keeps track of all our PFS characters and the sessions they have completed. I'd like to see it go one step further where you detail out your full character sheet, including uploading a portrait, and update it during and after a game session. Then, when you start a new PFS session you can input the character numbers of your party members to see their sheets. They can mark some areas as private if they need to keep secrets, but the important things would be there. (Name and class levels, Total and current HP, Resistances, buffs, AC, etc.) This would give anyone in the group with the app instant access to group stats, and it would be a useful tool for the Gm to know how hurt the party is and what effects they are under. I would also like the app to help keep track of buffs and effects that the characters are currently under during a game session. For example, if I cast Bless on my party then it updates their sheets to reflect the +1 morale bonus to attack and saves vs fear effects. The DM would have the "End turn" and "Time elapsed" buttons (1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) and the app would keep track of when effects cease.
You get the idea, but at the very least it would be handy to be able to see the sheets of everyone else in your group and their current HP.

2. Interactive condition app. Mark that you are grappled, prone, blinded, underwater, hasted, in hindering terrain, etc. and it tells you exactly what you can do and any pertinent modifiers. The grappling system is still a big mess so any step by step help in that area would speed things up a lot.

3. A Knowledge/monster info app that gives you select information based on a skill check roll. For example, if we encounter a new undead thing the Gm gives us the number of the monster and we put it into the app. We then see a picture of it but that is it. The app allows you to input a skill check roll (or autoroll for you) such as a Knowledge Religion roll of 23 and it tells you any info that the check would grant you. (the name of the creature, immunities, special attacks, weaknesses, etc.).

4. A kill tracker. Input your character names, and whenever you deliver the killing blow to something you add it to the list. Then when you are high level you can look back at all the things you have killed over your character's career as an adventurer. (43 gnolls, 2 ghosts, 13 zombies, 1 young black dragon, etc.).

3. A Knowledge/monster info app that gives you select information based on a skill check roll. For example, if we encounter a new undead thing the Gm gives us the number of the monster and we put it into the app. We then see a picture of it but that is it. The app allows you to input a skill check roll (or autoroll for you) such as a Knowledge Religion roll of 23 and it tells you any info that the check would grant you. (the name of the creature, immunities, special attacks, weaknesses, etc.).

Yeah, this would be good too. I've previously wondered about the possibility of such a thing through the gamemastery cards line (with a picture on one side and three potential pieces of information based on increasing DC on the other) but there hasnt been much interest. Maybe it would be better/easier through an app.

What do I want for future tablet tools? A Windows version, that's what I'd like to see. Not everybody has a tablet or compatible phone, and I hate the idea of all of these great tools that I have no way to use, especially when I already use my PC for GMing tools (softrope, combat manager, .pdf docs etc.)

Windows Version please! I have 4 computers in the house, and have no need of a Ipad or tablet. But would still love the electronic tools. Most of my games are VTT games, so please a version for the pc.

Treasure generator, please-and-thank-you. Define by available Pathfinder RPG book too, so I can limit it to just Core Rulebook, APG, etc.

Random encounter generator that I can define by APL, climate, and terrain.
Spellbook: not just for wizards. Click and select multiple presets for prepared spell users. (Include a spellbook generator for treasure hordes too.)
Initiative Tracker.

Like on all counts. A Harrow Deck reader would be cool, but I would get more use from a Character Tracker.

- an easy to update tool to track which scenarios you have played (and for which character), which scenarios you have GMed (and which character - if any yet - you have assigned that scenarios to)

- ideally this should let you track as you play/gm but also highlight any discrepancies between what you have recorded and what has been reported (noting errors in factions for example) or whether you have forgotten to add a new character to the online tools etc.

This should then also help you see which scenarios you haven't played that are tier appropriate.

Ideally this app would let friends who play PFS together SHARE their tracking data to aid in group coordination and planning of future modules to play/gm so most people in the group can play new modules (or run modules they can still get gm credit for running)

In my current PFS group we use a shared Google spreadsheet to track this kind of stuff and it helps considerably in planning out future games so we all are playing (or running - we alternate who GMs) scenarios which are new to us.

Probably not a really complicated app to build - though the sharing and links to Paizo.com might add some complexity - but it would be a really nice app for PFS play.

Especially if it also was integrated into an updated Warhorn and might, for example, show upcoming games (and conventions) - and/or offer ways for Venture Captains to promote game days, conventions etc to PFS players via "ads" in the app?

Windows Version please! I have 4 computers in the house, and have no need of a Ipad or tablet. But would still love the electronic tools. Most of my games are VTT games, so please a version for the pc.

Chris

Google Chrome will let you load android apps to it, so you should be able to load it from the browser.